It is well known to use clothing such as gloves to assist humans in gripping an object. Examples include the gloves worn by professional athletes for gripping a bat, golf club or football. Additionally, gloves formed of rubber or other polymers are useful to improve grip in wet conditions. Other examples of grip garments are cloth gloves having rubber “dots” molded into the cloth. A user of such a garment includes an auto mechanic who wears gloves to protect their hands from the cold or injury. However, without the rubber dots, the user would lose their grip because cloth has a lower coefficient of friction than skin. These “rubberized” products have been typically limited to gloves and footwear. It would be useful to provide a garment that could be used to assist dock or warehouse workers in carrying items, such as boxes, containers, packages and the like.
A warehouse or shipping worker will generally try to carry as many items as possible, for instance, by carrying multiple items under their arms, or larger, clumsier items against their chest. By using, in part, friction between the surface of the workers clothing and the items, the load burden would be shared by other body parts other than their hands and arms to carry items. Additionally, slipping could be reduced as well. It would be an advantage to provide work clothing that could assist a worker with their grip.
One such example of grip style clothing is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,794, which discloses a gripping football shirt comprised of lycra, cotton, nylon, polypropylene or spandex blends with neoprene strips mounted on the inside of the anatomical arms. The neoprene strips are provided to give a player a non-slip grip upon the football during retrieving and possession. The shirt also allows for increased protection against skin abrasions while playing on natural and artificial surfaces. Although the invention of the '794 patent would be helpful, it does not provide a complete solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,537 discloses a riding suit, in particular for motor-cyclists, where the correspondence of parts of the body of the wearer under use conditions are in touch with or, at least, graze parts of the motor-cycle, on the outer surface thereof there are provided zones that are fabricated with slip-resistant materials. Although the invention disclosed in '537 patent seems to be a good solution for riding a motorcycle, it is not suited for freight or dock workers who have to optimize the number of packages they carry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,538 discloses a pad for frictionally supporting an automotive transparency carried by an individual has bead or ridges made of friction material and is detachably secured to the belt of the individual extending over a portion of the individual's thigh. The windshield is urged against the friction material to assist in maintaining the windshield above the floor as it is moved. The pad has loop portion of a hook and loop securing arrangement with the hook portion secured to the belt. To prevent downward movement of the belt, ends of suspenders are provided with loop portions of the securing arrangement for detachably securing the suspenders to the belt to assist in maintaining the belt in position about the waist of the individual. While the '538 patent provides a very good solution to a specific problem, it does not solve the problems faced by a dock or freight worker, that it, it does not assist the worker in carrying items under their arms or on their chest/abdomen.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,470 discloses a torso-covering garment for playing paintball having gripping areas to enable the user to grippably contact a gripping area of the garment with the butt stock of the gun. Each gripping area comprises a pliant, non-cushioning substrate. Common embodiments of the garment are shirts, jerseys, jackets, and vests. Again, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,470 reveals a specific application for shooting a paint ball gun, rather than a device for assisting a user in carrying items.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a garment for assisting a user in caring items, such as boxes, packages, containers and the like. Further it would be desirable to provide a garment for assisting a user in carrying an item under their arm. And finally, it is desirable to provide a garment that is designed to provide such assistance without stretching or deforming.